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A curiosity on the Prime and a Time machine module

prime10Just two comments today:

First, I have realized one thing after spending 2 years with the HP Prime. You think you know a tool that you use nearly daily, but there comes a moment when you realize that you don't. This has happened today to me!

I was trying to calculate 26^6 and then I realized that the key does not say Y^X, but X^Y, just the opposite of the traditional RPN format. So I should invert the order of the operands? But wait! I have been using the calculator for already two years and I must have used this operation several times! Did I get the wrong results all the time? Because I would have never tried the operation the other way around, even if I had seen the sign on the key.

Now, when I test it, I find that it behaves as Y^X instead of what's written on the key!

Further search in the internet showed that this is a standard notation, since on algebraic notation, which is the one intended to be used primarily with the Prime, X and Y don't mean anything in particular. If anything, X is the item that comes first and Y is the one that cames last in algebraic. So this key sign has been a calsualty of the war that RPN finally lost!

And the other thing: I have found another Time Module for the HP41CL. I plan to offer a good deal to any of the purchasers of HP41CL from The Calculator Store, but for now I will put it in the website at standard web prices.

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